I’ve decided to start hosting a book club since I love reading, and would like to be able to connect with folks who have different perspectives about their key insights. Officially we will start in 2023 (part of my New Year goals to not just read for me, but to build and strengthen community). Please sign up here if you are interested.
Format
I will publish the book as a post here on my blog that I intend to read toward the beginning of the month, and then I will schedule a virtual meet up on the last Friday of the month at 3:30PM PST to ensure that we have an hour to talk about key takeaways/findings. I will start this month just as an experimental effort to work out the kinks, so if you would like to join early, please feel free to respond here or on LinkedIn.
Kickoff
For December’s experiment, I’m reading An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management by Will Larson. Will Larson is a prolific writer, with an amazing blog that likely has advice, or at least insights, about almost any situation you might encounter in engineering management. Having managed different kinds of teams, I will say definitively that there are unique challenges to every one, and being able to step back and think about the specific group you are managing, their challenges and strengths, is a requirement. Even if you are in a position of influence with that type of team versus directly overseeing their work, it is useful to dig into the kinds of processes and flows they use, so that you can be effective in partnering.
Thanks all, and Happy New Year!